Washington's Alex Ovechkin — the only player other than Malkin in this era to have at one time supplanted Crosby as the acknowledged “best in the world” — costs the most annually against the cap at $9.58 million.

Much rather see a 3yr deal max for Dupes. They may have to pay a little more up-front but 4 yrs for a guy that is 34 is pretty risky. He hits the UFA market and there's no telling how much he could get.......4mil might not be out of the question because teams pay a real premium in that market.

If they can get him for 3-3.5yr for 3 years....great. I can see Allan Walsh, who is a good, serious agent, advising him to test the market. Dupuis has a lot of kids these days and his career will be ending in the not too distant future. This is his last chance to cash-in and a chance that very few 34 year old wingers have at this stage of their careers. If he goes for the $$$$ elsewhere, I sure wouldn't blame the guy, but really hope he stays.

Much rather see a 3yr deal max for Dupes. They may have to pay a little more up-front but 4 yrs for a guy that is 34 is pretty risky. He hits the UFA market and there's no telling how much he could get.......4mil might not be out of the question because teams pay a real premium in that market.

If they can get him for 3-3.5yr for 3 years....great. I can see Allan Walsh, who is a good, serious agent, advising him to test the market. Dupuis has a lot of kids these days and his career will be ending in the not too distant future. This is his last chance to cash-in and a chance that very few 34 year old wingers have at this stage of their careers. If he goes for the $$$$ elsewhere, I sure wouldn't blame the guy, but really hope he stays.

You got to figure Duper is not going to fall off the earth in 4 years, with the new CBA you could still sign him to a 4 year 9 million deal. You just pay him 3 - 3 - 1.5 - 1.5. If his talents are not there in that 3rd year he would still be a servicable 3rd liner.

Malkin you could pay 9 million for 8 years, 72 million i think is fair. Granted another team could pay him 10-11 a year.

Four year deal makes sense if it reduces the cap number in the last two years, as others have suggested. I think it's a reasonable assumption that he'll be a contributor for all four years of the contract even if his role changes.

Beveridge wrote:He would have to give up money to get that 4th year from us, imo. Usually isn't Shero's move to do 3, let alone 4 years if it isn't the "core" if you will.

If we offer him a 3 year deal at ~10 million and he says I want a 4th year, Shero's counter should be 4 years at ~10 million.

So he'd play a year for free?

In the most watered down version of viewing that, yeah I guess that's what it is.

My point was either he gets 3 years making 3.3 million a year or 4 years making 2.5 a year. I think Dupuis would have to give up salary to get that 4th year. I could say 3 years at 10 million or 4 years at 12 million if that makes it more kosher.

You would want to front load the first year at 5 million since Genos new deal won't kick in for another season. Then 2.5 for the last 2 years. 4 year deal i would offer 4 years 11 million i would go 4 for the first year 2.5 for the nxt 2 years then 2 million the last season.

4 years 11 mill. would be a 2.75 cap hit.

With the new CBA if a player retires or is let go does the cap hit remain with the club, i can't remember how that works.

In a perfect world 3 years 8 million(2.66 hit) would be ideal. I think Shero will let Dupuis test the market then see if the pens offer is in his ball park. This is dupers chance to set him and is family for life. If he odes test the open market i think you could see him get a 4 a season for 3 or 4 years type deal.

With the new CBA if a player retires or is let go does the cap hit remain with the club, i can't remember how that works.

Dupuis could retire and have his cap hit come off the books since he's under 35. Theres no such thing as "letting a player go" in the NHL (aka release). They have to trade or send him to the minors (he'd have to clear waivers).

Crankshaft wrote:If Dupuis wants a 4 year contract, I think a 4 year/$9 million total contract is fair.

Would never happen in a million years.

Dupuis and a four deal will fetch a minimum of 14-16 million dollars over the term.

4 years and 9 mill...I see some saying 3 years and 10 mill....none of those are even close to getting a deal done with Dupuis.

He is the third most valuable forward on this team behind 87 and 71...Chris Kunitz makes how much? See what I mean?

There are a ton of wingers out there who are making 4 plus million per year WITHOUT Duper's speed and late fountain of youth scoring ability. So keep on dreaming of signing Dupuis to a silly number that will never happen. The Pens will have to pony up or he will be wearing a different sweater.

I will add they better make him a priority...you can do so many things with speed. I would rather have a 30 goal guy who is lightning fast and plays both ends of the ice like a maniac...can play short handed...etc etc...just an overall versatile player...over a SLOW 40 goal scorer who is basically a one dimensional hockey player...that has only a decent shot to hang the hat on and has two gears of slow and slower...

Sound familiar? This was just a quick Dupuis/Neal comparison if you hadn't already guessed that.

2009-2010 season was the first in which Malkin and Crosby were both an $8.7 cap hit. That season, the cap was $56 million. They comprised 31% of the cap.

Say Malkin signs for $9.5. That puts him and Crosby at a combined $18.2. That's 28% of the cap this upcoming season, and will only shrink as a percentage as the cap increases moving forward. Really, only in this past season when they were each making $8.7 under the $70 million cap were they ever below 25% of of the total cap.

All that to say, we have managed with the big two making between 25% and 31% of the cap for the past four seasons. If anything, the next 5 seasons of Crosby and Malkin at a combined $18ish million will be LESS of a burden to the cap than they were those past four.

Re: Malkin - $72M over 8 sounds about right. I'm not a great cap wizard, but I might go $80 over 8 to keep him here. I'd hate to see him on the other team. Re: Dupuis - $12M over 4 would probably work. Although I'd hate to lose him, I think that his impact on another team would not be as great, because I think some of his scoring fountain of youth is named Crosby and Kunitz. His defensive work and especially the PK would not change, however. Would that be worth $3M per year elsewhere?